"Hah.. finally, the central region... I've just become level 80, that wasn't so bad but it still could have been better," Night said while panting and sweating.

Shade didn't reply, he was more focused on appreciating his Lord's beautiful appearance, the sweat that reflected the light just enhanced his chiseled face, and even more so when his hair was now falling all over his face sometimes.

[Bond with subject 'Shade' deepens]

"Huh? again?" Night muttered.

'Perhaps it's due to my combat skills, ahaha, that must be it, not bad Shade, I see you're able to appreciate true skill.' he thought.

As usual, his thoughts were interrupted, this time it wasn't a voice but rather the sound of bushes shaking but it was loud enough for Night and Shade to switch to a combat stance.

"Woah, hey, we aren't here to fight," said a voice.

"Doesn't look like it," Night said as he looked at the group in front of him, there were 5 of them in total, of course, this was Mocha's group.

"Damn why's this NPC on the edge"

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we're all currently in the most dangerous part of Kriol?"

Night watched them argue amongst themselves when he decided to speak up,

"NPC? I'm a player"

"Huh?"

"No way.."

"We weren't the first?"

"But it's just the two of them, how could they possibly reach Kriol"

"Guys let's not misunderstand, perhaps he didn't yet reach Vraun," said Mocha.

"Oy, you, have you entered Vraun yet? or are you just lost here? anyway that doesn't matter, it's dangerous to stay here, perhaps you luckily managed to live so far" said Aurora while pointing at Night.

(A/N): Aurora was a friend of Layla's but Valerian considered her as his sister as well (IGN- Eve) (refer to chp#31 for more info)

Before Night could reply, a violent aura erupted next to him, it was Shade but he was different, he wasn't like his usual self, he was enraged, he wanted to slay the girl that spoke ill of his Lord.

"YOU.DARE? YOU ACTUALLY DARE? AHAHAHH TODAY THIS SHADE, SUBJECT OF LORD NIGHT's AS WELL AS GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST OF SILENCE SHALL TEACH YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO LOOK DOWN ON MY LORD." not even a second later, Shade rushed to attack Aurora.

The group was flabbergasted, to say they were surprised was a massive understatement, they recognized the name Night, they would have to be living under a rock to not recognize Night but not only did they encounter Night but they also learned that Night managed to make the Guardian of the Forest of Silence his subject?

However, before they could even think about it for a second, the streak of darkness that Shade was, rushed to slay Aurora, without thinking about it Noxx and Leo, the two tanks appeared in front of her and raised their shields to defend themselves as well as the others but just before Shade could clash with the tanks, his hand stopped an inch away from their shields.

The impact the attack would've caused would be massive and that was understood when there was a blast and a shockwave threw everyone but Mocha back, he barely managed to hold his ground but he was more curious as to what actually caused that but when he did, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

He saw Night casually holding Shade's wrist with one hand while the other was in his pocket.

"Tch, calm down, Shade, jeez, it's alright, I'm sure they didn't mean anything by that" Night said as he gave Mocha and his group a death stare.

Perhaps he was imagining it but Mocha felt like he could see something inside Night's eyes... it looked like a smile.

"O-of c-course, we didn't mean to be rude, I apologize if it seemed as such," Mocha said while cupping his fist.

Night could see that he was being sincere but at the same time, he realized that Mocha was probably stronger than him and wasn't really afraid of Night but he was just surprised. Of course, anyone would be so after seeing Shade, the murderous Guardian of the Forest of Silence calling himself a subject of Night's.

Night thanked Shade in his thoughts, just before he caught Shade's hand, Shade naturally reduced the force behind it so that he wouldn't hurt his Lord, he did this only out of concern and not to belittle Night.

"Let's start again, I'm Night"